What changes/improvements would you like to see

[ANGRYWOLF]

in FFXV ?

Anything from western rpgs you like that you would like to see in a FF game ?

Anything from previous FF games you would like to see in the next game that hasn't been in recent games ?

Obviously towns/cities with npcs you can interact with.

Inns where your characters can spend the night.

Bars, brothels, other establishments where they can interact with npcs and maybe pick up items or train.

Being able to ride chocobos in a battle would be nice.I saw some news some time back about a game where players characters can ride horses so why not chocobos ?

Alternate endings/alternate paths.A total good ending, a toal bad ending and various ones in between. Have the possibility where your characters can choose the dark side and go evil as opposed to being good.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[Flying Arrow]

If the practice of scripted storylines is going to continue (and it likely will), I'd like to see something a bit less juvenile. I've always wanted to see a plot structured kind of like a tragedy -- but with a gaming-style twist. I'm not exactly sure what that could or would mean, but I'm not a developer.

Also, more interaction with the gameworld. Maybe dungeons or towers that have multiple solutions depending on the manner in which its puzzles are solved. For instance, there's a stream preventing your progress: Find a valve to raise a floodgate (potentially flooding or draining other areas in the location, revealing hidden paths or treasure) or freeze the water with an Ice spell (freezing everything, and both missing some good items stuck beneath the ice while creating a make-shift bridge to hard-to-reach nooks)? Beautiful environments are just set pieces. Let's see some creativity with this new hardware

More resource management and less cash acquired for the party. I know that's probably not the kind of game they want to make, but having a modest wallet carefully spent on the right items (or whatever is right for your strategy), and then painstakingly and successfully plundering a dungeon with limited resources can be tremendously satisfying. Finding a hi-potion in a chest should be a cause for a fist-pump, not a shrug.

[Slothy]

Bring back Matsuno and give him free reign to do absolutely anything he wants.

Since that will never happen though, I'll settle for trying something new with the battle system that doesn't involve the traditional turn based random battle crap. A story that is something other than a world ending evil villian that has to be stopped by a rag tag group of young chosen ones. Toss in some character development that's natural and makes sense (like FFXII, you know, the stuff fans seem to hate because they want quantity over quality), as well as some strategy and challenge in combat and we may be on to something.

You know, I think I just described FFXII by and large. Read into that what you will.

[ANGRYWOLF]

going to be in versus..so flying arrow might get his wish.
We went through the floodgate switches in FFXII..the Granmercy waterway or however it was spelled.

I'm not a big fan of puzzles.That might be why I'm not a fan of the Myst computer games although I understand that genre has a lot of fans.
I did play a supernintendo game called brainlord years ago though I never got to finish it.
I don't know if puzzles of that type would go over well in FF.I doubt FF fans would have the patience to solve them.


I'm not a fan of FFXII. I felt it lacked proper plot and character development caused most likely by Matusno's abrupt alleged breakdown and departure. Not likely he would ever return any more than Sakaguichi would return.
I do think new blood, perhaps someone from bioware or bethesda if they went to work for Square and were allowed to develope an FF game might introduce something that might reinvigorate the franchise.I feel it does need to be reinvigorated.
I don't see the current producers having the knowledge and wisdom to do something new well.

I do like nonhumans as characters and again we have a game where there are no nonhumans as party members.
We only had fran in FXII.
I don't even recall seeing nonhuman races...if you exclude the falcie.... in FFXIII in any of the videos and I find that sad.

[VeloZer0]

Well, I haven't played XIII yet so it isn't fair to say changes I want for FFXV, but I'm going to throw world map out there.

[Bolivar]

Oh man keep Bioware and Bethesda as far away as possible. I usually hate that kind of crap, but when I do like it, it's for different reasons that make me want to play Final Fantasy.

Square Enix, and Japanese developers as a whole, are going through a spiritual crisis right now. They're struggling to stay relevant in a new ecology. Quite frankly, video games as a whole have taken a turn for the worst over the last few years, and it scares the living crap out of me every time Yoichi Wada talks about western games, developing games with western flair, and the possibility of handing FF over to a Western developer.

Instead of compromising they should stay Japanese and work to find ways to keep their own style but make it better than ever in a new environment. They should look to Valkyria Chronicles and Demon's Souls, two of the best games I've played this generation, for a clue. Those games showed you can utilize new technology and trends to make the best of the old even better.

What they should do is pull a Metal Gear Solid 4. While the game did make some sacrifices for a Western audience, Kojima showed that the Japanese can use this technology better than anyone else (everyone except for Naughty Dog and Guerilla Games, that is).

This is what Final Fantasy did with VII and X. Regardless of our differing views on them, those games really ushered in "next gen". It was supposed to be up to XIII to do the same, but they missed the deadline by a couple years now and now it just looks like another non-exclusive PS3 game. I doubt they could get a leg up on Sony's 1st party studios now, but it's something they should look into. That, and keeping Final Fantasy what it's supposed to be.

[ANGRYWOLF]

I do believe there are western publishers that could make a positive contribution to FF.
If not bioware/bethesda perhaps someone else...

What makes a FF game a FF game anyway ?

What should make an FF game an FF game ?

The whole linearity issue....while I don't mind linearity in an rpg I think if you could make it nonlinear and still have it make sense and be compelling you could attract new /more fans.

and emotions..While FFXII didn't have enough from the videos it seems to me FFXIII has too much.
They need to strike a balance.

[Bolivar]

If not bioware/bethesda perhaps someone else...

Well, I don't think they're bad developers, it's just the conception of a Western RPG is built around perfecting that PC-line of D&D emulations.

But my biggest problem with Bethesda and Bioware is that these people just don't understand anything about animations. Their character models look like they're standing still, even when they're moving. Their faces look so empty and devoid of life, when games like MGS4 and even FFX almost 9 years ago have such incredible facial expressions.

To stay FF, they should bring their own battle system up to date in their own way, instead of stealing Bioware's like they did in FFXII. For example, you could have characters change positions in battle to the sides and back of the enemy, instead of just front and back lines. This would make back-attacks, pre-emptive strikes, and pincer attacks a constantly emerging aspect of battles instead of isolated incidents to stir things up a bit.

And there's no reason why they can't have towns. This just shows to me that their team "doesn't get it". Like Kitase said in a recent interview that they couldn't remake FFVII on PS3 because it has so many towns, and towns are something they couldn't figure out in this one. It's like damn - they need new programmers like woah.

So I guess they should start with the technology. They need to get that department at a level where they don't have to compromise their game design around their own faults. Kojima talked in his GDC Keynote about how his games actually come out better because of technology limitations, but I don't think that's the case with Square.

[Zeromus_X]

I've always wanted to see a real-time battle system in an FF like something out of the Star Ocean or Tales series. Or maybe a turn-based system with action elements like Grandia series or Eternal Sonata. Though FF has been pretty impressive with their turn-based systems for the last few games.

[qwertysaur]

Bring back Fat chocobo for something.

Also random references to other FF games that make no impact on the plot and only exist for the amusement and feelings of nostalgia for the player.

[Vermachtnis]

I'm probably a minority on this, but I'd like a more lighthearted game. Every one's so serious all the time lately. Even in Dissidia, which was a crossover game, took itself very seriously. Where's the comedy? Also more minigames. Like the card games in VIII and IX. Or Blitzball. Or the Gold Saucer. They need to bring back the Gold Saucer. The World can wait, I'm going Snow boarding!

Also I'd like the ability to change the over world/town map avatar. You could in I-VI. Why did they stop?

[Sephiroth]

What do I want to see in the next normal Final Fantasy?

- Random Battles
- The giant overworld you have from Final Fantasy (I)-IX
- an anime-like antagonist like Sephiroth or Kuja or something cool and mad like X-Death or Kefka, but no wannabe antagonist (which is often the case with anime antagonists)

[Rantz]

I'm probably a minority on this, but I'd like a more lighthearted game. Every one's so serious all the time lately. Even in Dissidia, which was a crossover game, took itself very seriously. Where's the comedy? Also more minigames. Like the card games in VIII and IX. Or Blitzball. Or the Gold Saucer. They need to bring back the Gold Saucer. The World can wait, I'm going Snow boarding!

Yes!

[ANGRYWOLF]

I wouldn't be interested in it.
This isn't Disgaea.
This is FF.

Another fellow started a thread asking for a return to the old style I guess.
I don't think he likes the futuristic settings.

In FFX while it was mostly old school there was futuristic stuff in the cities, in Bevelle in particular.You saw more of it in X-2.

In XII you had the nethicite and the airships.I do think it's hard to have castles and swords on one hand and power beams and air ships on the other.

I think the games need a mix from game to game, some in a rustic style with castles and swords and others more like mass effect with ships and guns.
That would appease both sides I would hope.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think overall, I would like to see a little less melodrama and lot more emphasis on tactical strategy in the gameplay.

I'm sick of character fawning over how tragic their lives are the stories themselves trying to wring every drop of emotion out of a scene until it feels like soap opera or a spoof of what real drama is. I need more subtlety and more things left unsaid rather than deep analysis or constant romantic kisses as the world explodes behind them. Its getting ridiculous. I would also like for them to stop with the AC Wire-Fu before it somehow becomes a godforsaken staple in the series. If I want cheesy Wire-Fu I play Devil May Cry, they do it better cause you have control over it and they don't take themselves as seriously.

The best drama I see in film or books, or even games, are quiet and there is very little talking. SE has been doing a great job incorporating body language into the games and I would love to see them press on to the point where we could cut down on the pointless dialogue sequences that only continue to destroy immersion. I also don't feel that drama has to have a resolution, so stop with the last minute epiphanies.

For gameplay, I would love to see a battle system where strategy is the utmost importance and no longer a faint illusion. I want the game to be challenging but use of good tactics save the day and cuts battles down to a few seconds. I don't want random encounters to return but and I feel FFXIII looks to have struck a nice balance so all of you fans bitching about the lack of a proper Fanfare theme in XII can get your cake and I can eat it too since I don't have to deal with random encounters anymore. Mostly, I want to see a system where exploiting elements is more important and you own party has their own weaknesses. I would love to see a FF that actually nerfs physical abilities. The Palings from XII were a godsend in making what seemed like routine battles into something a bit more exciting now that you can't use your Blade of Total Badass Epicness to slay the beast in one blow. I would love to see more enemies that are immune to physical or even have the ability to counter or reflect Physical a la SMT. Mostly I'm annoyed how much FF tends to favor physical melee characters. Mages are useful in the beginning but once you get that one set of armor/weapons/or abilities your warriors can solo the game. We need to nerf melee characters something awful and we need to rid RPGs of "Main Character" syndrome where the main guy is absolutely perfect in everything. No more statistical Cloud's, Ramza's, Terra's, or Squall's the main shouldn't be above average in everything.

Of anything, I just want a game where I can see the game over screen and its not because the enemies have such jacked up stats that you need to have even more jacked up stats to win. I want you to get into a battle, and you and the opponent have an equal chance of annihilating the other and it all depends on using strategy to take control of the situation in your favor as opposed to unleashing your "Ultimate attack of Epic Doomness" to one shot your way through the fight, but also on the flip side, I want the strategy part of the game to be flexible enough so you have multiple ways to win and don't have to figure out the "one token strategy" to win. No Zelda syndrome please.

For world design, I wish the series would use the worlds more. I feel XII was going in the right direction but it needs to hearken back to a few older games and push some of its good points even further. I want it big, I want to explore, and I want to trip over optional content. This is not to say everything has to be open ended but don't write a story that calls for one or the other. I want my linear dungeons but I also want my large open dungeons. Hell, make the dungeons linear but since we're ignoring the world map, the parts that count as an overworld map in the game should be open-ended. No more FFX roads.

I want the world to be fleshed out and I want it to also possess its own story seperate from the struggles of your own party and the main plot. Everything should have a place and every place should have a story and not one that needs to somehow be relevant to the main plot I mean come on, its a smurfing planet not everything has to be tied to the Ancients and their magical McGuffin that correlates to the Great War that correlates to the plans of the evil corporate empire from the future. You can't tell me that interesting crap doesn't happen in only one place and a 1000 years ago. Let's be realistic here. Regions and cities should be diverse and possess their own history and customs and I feel this has been waning a bit in the series.

I wouldn't mind seeing a world map again, not because I truly miss them but rather after playing older FF titles, I feel that we killed the idea before we fully explored how we can use them to create more immersive worlds. I' love to get on a world map that actually has trains, airships, and ships moving along seperate from the ones my party is using and maybe even coming across people also on the world map. I also don't want these lements to disappear as soon as I get better access to explore the world.